There are rumors floating around that Google is interested in buying Feedburner.

Todd Cochrane, from Geek New Central asks, Could you trust Google with your FeedBurner Data?

He make some very good points that I strongly encourage all podcasters and anyone who uses Feedburner to consider.  I have long believed that your podcast feed should be considered part of your property.  Kind of like real estate on someone’s iPod, iTunes or podcatching software. (I think I have posted this somewhere,  but cannot find it easily).

I even designed my own feeds differently, giving out my controlled version to help mitigate the risk of relying on Feedburner.

My concerns had to do with retaining an audience should something happen to the service provider. If they go out of business and shut down their servers, your feed’s real estate in someone’s mp3 player could be lost forever.

Todd raises a new and valid concern relating to Google’s knowledge about too many things and the implications it has for using a feed service like Feedburner.

I think this is a real issue and I hope our legal system can keep up with what the new definition of monopoly means.

Google’s power is as a driver of traffic, collector of search activity and documenting every thing that we do.  Tracking my podcast feeds feels like another invasion of privacy.

It sure feels like big brother has arrived in the form of Google.

How do you feel about a potential Google buyout of Feedburner?